Ferndale What LP SmartSide Actually Is
LP SmartSide is an engineered wood siding product — strand-based OSB substrate saturated with resin and coated with a wax and zinc borate treatment, then finished with a primer or factory coating. It's a legitimate step up from raw wood siding, and LP has spent years improving its moisture resistance and warranty terms. It's lighter than fiber cement, easier to cut and nail without specialized blades, and generally costs less installed. For a lot of markets, it's a reasonable middle-ground product.
We don't install it here. Not because it's a bad product everywhere, but because Ferndale and the rest of Whatcom County put a specific kind of stress on wood-based siding that we've decided isn't worth the long-term risk to a homeowner's investment.
The Trade-Off: It's Still Wood at Its Core
Underneath the resin saturation and coatings, LP SmartSide's substrate is engineered wood strand. Wood-based products, no matter how well treated, share one fundamental vulnerability: sustained moisture exposure at cut edges, seams, and fastener penetrations is what eventually causes swelling, edge flare, and delamination. LP's warranty coverage reflects this — it's real coverage, but it's also conditioned on strict field cutting, priming of exposed edges, caulking schedules, and paint maintenance intervals being followed precisely and documented over the life of the product. Miss a maintenance cycle or leave a field cut unsealed, and coverage can be affected.
That's a reasonable ask from the manufacturer's side. But it puts the ongoing burden of protecting the substrate on the homeowner (or whoever they hire down the road), year after year, for as long as they own the house.
Why That Matters More in Ferndale Than Elsewhere
Whatcom County's climate isn't just "rainy Pacific Northwest" — it's a specific combination of stresses:
- Salt air. Ferndale sits close enough to Bellingham Bay and the Salish Sea that homes here deal with airborne salt exposure most inland siding products are never tested against day to day. Salt accelerates the breakdown of coatings and finishes at a faster rate than plain moisture alone.
- Driving rain. Winter storms off the Pacific don't just fall straight down — wind-driven rain gets pushed sideways into lap joints, corner trim, and butt seams, which are exactly the spots where an engineered wood substrate is most exposed if the finish isn't perfect and staying perfect.
- A long moss season. Shaded north walls, tree-lined lots, and our extended damp stretch from fall through spring create ideal conditions for moss and algae growth on siding. Moss holds moisture against the surface for extended periods, which is the exact scenario wood-based substrates are least equipped to shrug off indefinitely.
Any one of these on its own is manageable. Together, over the 20-30 year window a homeowner expects siding to last, they compound the maintenance demands on a wood-based product beyond what most homeowners realistically keep up with.
What We See in the Field
The failure mode with engineered wood siding in this climate isn't usually dramatic. It's slow: a hairline gap opens at a butt joint, rain gets behind the finish over a few seasons, moss holds dampness against a lower course longer than it should, and the substrate starts to swell or the edges start to flare. By the time it's visible, the fix is often more involved than a quick patch — and depending on how well the maintenance schedule was documented, warranty coverage isn't guaranteed to fill the gap.
We'd rather not put a homeowner in that position, so we made a standing decision: we install James Hardie fiber cement siding, exclusively.
Why Hardie Is What We Install Instead
Fiber cement is cement, sand, and cellulose fiber — there's no wood substrate to swell, flare, or delaminate when it takes on moisture. James Hardie also engineers specific product lines (their HZ5 line, in particular) for climates like ours, meaning the formulation itself accounts for sustained damp exposure rather than relying entirely on a surface coating to keep water out.
| Factor | Engineered Wood (LP SmartSide) | Fiber Cement (James Hardie) |
|---|---|---|
| Substrate | Resin-treated wood strand | Cement, sand, cellulose fiber |
| Moisture behavior | Can swell/flare if finish is compromised | Dimensionally stable when wet |
| Combustibility | Wood-based, combustible | Non-combustible |
| Finish | Field-primed or factory primer, often field-painted | Factory-baked ColorPlus finish |
| Warranty structure | Conditioned on documented maintenance schedule | Long transferable warranty on substrate and finish |
Hardie's ColorPlus factory finish is baked on under controlled conditions, which holds up better against salt air and UV than a field-applied coat, and it comes with a strong transferable warranty that doesn't hinge on a homeowner tracking a caulking calendar for two decades. It's also non-combustible, which matters more each fire season.
None of this means LP SmartSide is a scam or that everyone who has it made a bad choice — it's a fair product for a lot of situations. It's just not the product we're willing to put our name behind on a house that has to stand up to Whatcom County salt air, driving rain, and moss season for the long haul.
Get an Honest Look at Your Siding
If you're weighing siding options for a home in Ferndale or anywhere in Whatcom County, we're happy to walk your property, talk through what we see, and give you a straightforward, no-pressure estimate on a Hardie fiber cement system built for this climate.